The first day of the trek began with a pancake breakfast at Quetzaltrekker's office in Xela. With our packs fully loaded with personal belongings, two liters of water each and our allotment of the group's food for three days, we departed, crossing Xela on foot until we reached the Minerva bus terminal, at which point we loaded our packs on top of a chicken bus and burnt rubber.
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The first two hours of the journey took us up a fairly steep mountain, at the top of which gave way to pastural farmlands where local Maya farmers were busy working as we plodded along a narrow pathway through their fields.
The farmland faded away as we found ourselves high atop hills that curved and sloped downwards into thick cloud forests far below. To sit on a rock and look downwards as clouds ebbed and flowed through lush forest like water was simply breathtaking and something we had never experienced before.
Shortly after lunch, the rain began to fall. Fortunately, it was a light rain, but it did persist the rest of the day. We descended the hills and marched the last few miles along a gravel road that brought us through a few small communities until we arrived in the mountain village of Santa Catarina Ixtahuacán (eesh-tah-wa-KAHN).
Shelter for the night was the humble community center. After dinner and hot beverages, we threw our bedrolls, sleeping bags and weary bodies down upon the hard tile floor and tried to get some rest. Rest was fitful, however. We turned like rotisserie chickens on spits trying to find a comfortable sleeping position (which proved elusive). Add to that the symphony of crowing roosters and village church bells tolling on the hour and you can understand why we welcomed the breaking dawn.
